IMPROVING TEACHER SALARIES ON A NATIONAL LEVEL

WHEREAS, extraordinary disparities in teacher salaries, benefits and learning conditions persist throughout the country, even as many state courts demand equitable educational funding for children in cities and poorer areas; and

WHEREAS, such disparities are most evident in smaller rural schools and, in particular, urban districts where the need to recruit and retain excellent teachers is crucial to children's success; and

WHEREAS, the AFT has worked long and hard with considerable success to gain improvements in salaries and benefits for all teachers regardless of geographic location; and

WHEREAS, numerous educational reform reports and mandates from "A Nation at Risk" to the "No Child Left Behind" have increased pressures to raise standards and test scores for all children regardless of geographic location; and

WHEREAS, "highly qualified" teachers are now required in every urban, rural and suburban district and need to be recruited and retained so that "all children can learn," regardless of geographic location or conditions; and

WHEREAS, federal mandates, such as 94-142 Law and NCLB, impose increased costs on all districts; and

WHEREAS, the current levels of federal support are inadequate to meet the mandate that all children achieve higher standards regardless of local economic conditions and resources:

RESOLVED, that the AFT, working with the NEA whenever feasible, continue its efforts to gain more federal funding for all national mandates; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT, in conjunction with the NEA, continue to lobby for a specific revenue stream of NCLB funds to be dedicated to help states and localities raise teacher salaries to respectable professional levels; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT, with assistance from the NEA whenever feasible, seek to establish under NCLB auspices a federal fund for improving teacher salaries in all regions based on the successful Excellence in Teaching (EIT) used by New York state to improve teacher salaries in the 1980s.